SB 

47 & 


IRLF 


SB    EM 


Landscape 
Architecture 


A  Definition  and  a  Resume 
of  Its  Past  and  Present 
By  STEPHEN  CHILD 

F.ellow  American  Society  of 
Landscape  Architects 


LANDSCAPE 
ARCHITECTURE 


A  DEFINITION  AND  A  RESUME 
OF   ITS    PAST   AND    PRESENT 


By 

STEPHEN  CHILD 


FELLOW  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTS 

S.  B.  MASSACHUSETTS  INSTITUTE  OF  TECHNOLOGY,  1888 

MEMBER  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  CIVIL  ENGINEERS 

BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS,  AND 

SANTA   BARBARA,  CALIFORNIA 


"This   paper  was   presented  before  the   Cg 
of  Technology  held  tn  Boston,  April  10-1% 
commemorating     the    fiftieth    anniversary    _, 
granting  of  the  charter  of  the  school. " 


Published  by 

R.    J.    HAIGH-T 

440  S.  Dearborn  St. 
CHICAGO 


- 


Sf 


II 

gl 

<!  73 

02  £ 
«  ft 
H  « 


I.— LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECT  OR  LANDSCAPE 
GARDENER? 

There  is  at  the  present  time  much  apparent  misunder- 
standing of  the  terms  Landscape  Architecture  and  Landscape 
Gardening.  It  is  not  unusual  to  hear  it  stated  that  "this 
calling  a  man  a  landscape  architect  instead  of  a  landscape 
gardener"  is  merely  a  fad  "filling  one's  mind  with  images  of 
quarries,  stone  cutters,  creaking  derricks,  tapping  trowels, 
and  the  like,  instead  of  with  pictures  of  free  hand  dealings 
with  sunshine  and  shadow,  trees,  flowering  shrubs  and  leaping 
fountains."  One  well  known  writer  has  even  gone  so  far  as 
to  state  that  "the  men  most  deeply  engaged  in  the  art  have 
not  decided  what  to  call  it,"  and  that  it  is  suspicioned  "that 
the  present  fashion  among  the  professional  brethren  of  calling 
themselves  landscape  architects  is  promoted  by  two  acciden- 
tal causes :  first,  the  feeling  that  architecture  sounds  bigger 
than  gardening  and  can  demand  a  better  fee,  and  second, 
the  fact  that  the  architectural  style  of  landscape  work  is  the 
present  vogue  among  wealthy  clients." 

I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  look  at  this  a  little  more  carefully 
with  me  and  see  what  is  true  in  this  discussion.  In  the  first 
place,  the  term  is  not  a  "recent  fad."  Frederick  Law  Olm- 
sted,  the  elder,  called  himself  a  landscape  architect  away  back 
in  1856,  when  he  first  entered  upon  the  work  of  developing 
Central  Park  in  New  York  City,  and  the  fact  that  he  did  so, 
and  continued  to  so  designate  himself  during  the  whole  of  his 
career  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  general  adoption  of  the 
term.  But  the  fact  that  one  man,  even  an  eminent  one, 
adopted  this  title  is  perhaps  not  entirely  sufficient,  although 
those  of  us  who  are  familiar  with  Mr.  Olmsted's  work  and 
with  his  wonderful  genius  and  mastery  of  the  subject  in  all 
of  its  details  may  well  feel  assured  that  he  did  not  adopt  the 
title  without  most  careful  thought.  Unfortunately  he  did 
not  in  his  writings,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  really  explain  his 
reasons.  He  was  so  immersed  in  the  great  battle  then  going 
on,  for  public  parks  for  large  cities,  in  showing  their  value 
and  necessity  and  in  laying  down  the  principles  and  executing 
the  work  of  these  great  undertakings  that  he  apparently  had 
little  time  to  explain  fully  why  he  assumed  the  title.  We 


258758 


4  LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 

may,  however,  be  perfectly  assured  that  he  had  reasons,  and 
most  excellent  ones,  and  a  little  study  of  these  may  be  inter- 
esting and  profitable. 

In  the  process  of  the  development  of  mankind  there  has 
been  noticeable  a  constantly  increasing  tendency  toward 
differentiation  and  specialization,  each  step  in  the  process 
being  a  slow  one,  and,  as  a  rule,  taken  at  first  by  some  man 
or  group  of  men  trained  in  some  other  line.  In  this  way  have 
come  about  many  new  forms  or  fields  of  work,  each  adapted 
more  or  less  from  others  of  a  previous  and  perhaps  lesser 
civilization.  Each  new  profession,  or  branch  from  an  older 
one,  demanded  and  received  a  new  cognomen.  This  process 
of  differentiation  has  developed  more  or  less  clearly  defined 
groups  of  men,  as,  for  example,  the  professions  of  the  ministry, 
medicine,  law,  civil  engineering,  architecture  and  so  on. 

Fifty  years  ago,  when  Mr.  Olmsted  began  his  landscape- 
work,  there  was  beginning  to  be  a  demand  in  this  country  for 
men  to  do  a  certain  line  of  work  that  was  intrinsically  quite 
different  from  that  previously  carried  on  by  either  the  archi- 
tect, the  engineer  or  the  gardener,  and  yet  work  that  embod- 
ied some  of  the  principles  heretofore  utilized  by  all  of  these 
men.  Here  was  this  great  tract  of  land,  now  known  as  Cen- 
tral Park,  to  be  developed  and  made  beautiful,  for  the  purpose 
of  providing  the  crowded  millions  of  the  great  city  of  the 
future  with  the  opportunity  "for  a  form  of  recreation  to  be 
obtained  only  through  the  influence  of  pleasing  natural 
scenery  upon  the  sensibilities  of  those  quietly  contemplating 
it."  This  was  a  new  problem  for  this  country,  and  indeed 
for  any  country,  for  none  of  the  great  parks  in  Europe  now 
utilized  for  this  purpose  were  originally  created  for  anything 
of  this  sort.  They  are  chiefly  the  result  of  developing  land 
that  had  originally  been  set  aside  as  hunting  forests  by  the 
great  nobles  or  rulers  of  Europe. 

I  think  it  will  be  generally  conceded  that  New  York  was 
fortunate  in  its  selection  of  the  master  mind  to  work  out  this 
problem,  and  that  Central  Park  has  been  most  successfully 
designed  and  executed.  Mr.  Olmsted  saw  clearly  the  great- 
ness of  the  task  and  the  differentiation  of  this  form  of  design 
from  that  of  the  architect  or  engineer  and  certainly  from  the 
work  of  the  gardener.  He  chose  to  call  himself  a  landscape 
architect.  Let  us,  therefore,  look  into  the  meaning  of  these 
words  and  see  whether  they  are  not  well  selected  and  worthy 
of  our  respect  and  of  general  adoption. 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE  5 

That  most  delightful  and  interesting  writer,  Philip  Gilbert 
Hamerton,  says  of  landscape:  "We  use  the  word  in  two 
distinct  senses, — a  general  and  a  particular.  In  the  general 
sense  the  word,  'landscape'  without  the  article,  means  the 
visible  material  world, — all  that  can  be  seen  on  the  surface 
of  the  earth  by  a  man  who  is  himself  upon  the  surface;  and 
in  the  special  sense  'a  landscape'  means  a  piece  of  the  earth's 
surface  that  can  be  seen  at  once,  and  it  is  always  understood 
that  this  piece  will  have  a  certain  artistic  unity  or  suggestion 
of  unity  in  itself";  and  further  he  adds,  "although  the  word 
refers  to  the  natural  land,  it  does  not  exclude  any  human 
works  that  are  upon  the  land."  The  word  is  derived  from 
two  good  Anglo-Saxon  parts,  "land"  and  the  suffix  "scape," 
corresponding  to  "skip"  or  "ship,"  as  in  the  word  "friend- 
ship," meaning  "the  state  or  condition  of  being."  Landscape 
then  means  "the  state  or  condition  of  being  land."  When 
we  come  to  add  the  word  architecture,  however,  the  conno- 
tation conveys  to  many  people  a  wrong  impression,  but  it 
should  not,  for  in  its  early  and  primitive  meaning  the  word 
architect  meant  simply  and  solely  "chief  workman"  or 
"master  artisan."  It  is  well,  I  believe,  for  us  to  recall  this 
earlier  meaning  of  the  word  at  the  present  time. 

It  is  quite  largely  the  architect  himself  who  is  responsible 
for  any  wrong  impression  that  may  have  developed  in  the 
use  of  the  term  landscape  architect ;  as  many  have  assumed 
that,  because  the  word  "architect"  is  used  at  all,  the  term 
"landscape  architect"  means  simply  an  architect  who  med- 
ples  a  bit  with  the  landscape  immediately  surrounding  his 
buildings.  Many  architects  have  done  this,  with  regrettable 
results  both  to  the  client  and  to  the  profession  of  land- 
scape architecture.  I  think  it  is  but  fair  to  suggest  that  if 
the  architect  solves  the  problems  of  his  buildings  success- 
fully, he  may  well  leave  to  the  landscape  architect  the  mat- 
ter of  designing  the  surroundings  for  them,  realizing  that  his 
own  architectural  problems  are  many  and  difficult,  and  that 
the  trained  landscape  architect  can,  by  co-operating  with 
him,  greatly  improve  the  net  result;  for,  as  we  all  know,  the 
effect  of  many  a  successful  building  has  been  seriously  im- 
paired by  lack  of  a  proper  setting. 

What  Mr.  Olmsted  meant  when  he  termed  himself  a  land- 
scape architect  was  that  he  was  aiming  to  be  a  master  artisan 
in  matters  pertaining  to  land  and  to  human  works  thereon, 
having  regard  both  to  the  beauty  of  its  appearance  and  to  its 


6  LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 

use.  In  a  very  real  sense  such  work  covers  agriculture,  for- 
estry, gardening,  engineering  and  the  elements  of  architecture. 
Landscape  architecture  has  been  denned  as  "a  group  of 
activities  which  include  horticulture,  architecture,  civil  en- 
gineering and  agriculture."  Humphrey  Repton,  a  great 
English  authority  on  matters  of  this  sort,  says  that  in  order 
to  carry  out  this  line  of  work  one  must  possess  not  only  artis- 
tic ability  and  taste,  but  "a  complete  knowledge  of  surveying, 
mechanics,  hydraulics,  botany  and  the  general  principles  of 
architecture."  We  may  well  weigh  his  words,  for  Hum- 
phrey Repton  was  a  cultivated  English  gentleman  of  great 
refinement  and  good  taste.  He  was  the  first  Englishman 
from  such  a  grade  of  society  to  undertake  the  planning  or 
designing  of  country  estates.  Kent,  one  of  his  predecessors 
in  this  line  of  work,  was  a  coach  painter  by  trade  who  pos- 
sessed some  artistic  taste  but  little  culture.  "Capability" 
Brown,  Repton's  most  famous  immediate  predecessor,  was 
a  gardener,  who,  by  association  with  men  of  refinement  and 
by  his  tact  and  native  ability,  worked  his  way  up  to  an  hon- 
orable place;  but  Repton  was  a  well-educated  Englishman, 
who  had  traveled  and  studied  much.  Repton,  however, 
called  himself  a  landscape  gardener,  as  did  all  of  the  ethers 
at  that  time,  but  Mr.  Olmsted  chose  to  avoid  that  term  for 
several  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  these  workers  in  land- 
scape design  in  England  had  confined  their  efforts  almost 
entirely  to  the  design  of  country  estates.  The  term,  land- 
scape gardening,  was,  I  believe;  first  used  by  the  poet  Shen- 
stone  to  mean  particularly  an  informal  or  picturesque  treat- 
ment of  the  grounds  of  an  estate,  as  distinguished  from  the 
older  style  of  formal  treatment  that  had  been  in  vogue  and 
carried  to  such  excess.  In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  formality  had  been  pushed  to  the  point  of  puerility. 
A  reaction  set  in,  due  to  numerous  causes,  and  the  "new 
style,"  or  so-called  "English  style,"  was  introduced  by  Kent 
and  others,  who,  as  Sir  Horace  Walpole  enthusiastically  ex- 
claimed, "leaped  the  wall  and  saw  all  nature  was  a  garden," 
and  so  in  fact  it  is  in  those  delightful  parts  of  old  England  in 
which  they  labored;  those  country  estates  with  their  deer 
parks  and  pleasure  grounds.  These  men  made  a  practice  of 
designing  country  places  in  an  informal  or  naturalistic 
manner,  and  termed  this  landscape  gardening.  They  were 
in  favor  of  abolishing  all  formality,  and  they  themselves 
carried  their  theory  to  excess. 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE  7 

Later,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the 
first  of  the  nineteenth  century,  men  like  Repton  came  for- 
ward, realizing  that  formality  had  its  place  and  value,  and 
began  to  use  it  under  certain  circumstances  but  still  called 
themselves  landscape  gardeners.  This  latter  use  of  the 
term  was  a  serious  twisting  of  the  original  meaning;  for  a 
garden  is,  properly  speaking,  a  place  engirt,  inclosed  or  set 
apart  and  highly  cultivated.  Landscape  is,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  piece  of  the  earth's  surface  that  can  be  seen  at  one  time  by 
a  man  who  is  himself  standing  upon  the  earth,  and  may,  of 
course,  mean  a  broad  stretch  of  country  not  all  enclosed. 

There  is  another  important  point  and  one  that  has  not 
been  particularly  mentioned  in  discussions  of  the  term  land- 
scape architect,  one  to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  namely, 
that  the  English  landscape  designers  mentioned  were  en- 
gaged almost  exclusively  in  the  preparation  of  plans  for 
country  estates.  These  were,  of  course,  not  always  large, 
and  often  were  walled  in  or  engirt  (girt  in),  and,  therefore, 
perhaps  in  a  sense  gardens.  Mr.  Olmsted  in  1856  had  before 
him  not  such  a  problem,  but  that  of  designing  a  great  public 
park  for  a  large  city.  This  work  was  not  gardening  in  any 
sense  of  the  word;  it  was  something  quite  different.  It  was 
work  of  design,  a  work  that  could  be  undertaken  and  success- 
fully carried  out  only  by  a  "master  artisan  in  matters  per- 
taining to  land."  Here  were  to  be  developed,  and  we  know 
how  well  it  has  been  done,  broad  peaceful  landscape  effects, 
giving  the  tired  city  dweller  opportunity  for  restful  contem- 
plation and  relief  from  city  sights  and  sounds.  These  were 
to  be  designed  and  executed  where  none  had  existed  before, 
and  in  such  a  way  that  there  should  be  no  obtrusive 
evidence  of  man's  elaborate  control  and  no  marring  of  the 
pleasing,  restful  effect  by  such  garden  elements  as  beds  of 
geraniums  or  rare  and  striking  shrubs  clipped  into  formal 
shapes;  in  other  words,  no  gardening,  as  we  now  understand 
that  term.  This  was  what  he  termed  landscape  architecture. 
The  French  landscape  designers  had  already  adopted  this 
term,  their  phrase,  architede  paysagiste,  meaning  simply 
landscape  architect. 

Many  of  Mr.  Olmsted's  great  works  are  familiar  to  us  all. 
They  include  Central  Park,  New  York;  Prospect  Park, 
Brooklyn;  the  almost  unrivaled  Park  System  of  Boston;  the 
great  work  designed  by  him  at  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago; 
and  almost  innumerable  country  estates,  notably  Biltmore 


8  LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 

at  Asheville,  N.  C.,  the  mere  enumeration  of  which  serves 
to  show  some  of  the  diversity  of  the  work,  and  even  the  most 
casual  observer  can  see  in  them  some  of  the  reasons  why  this 
sort  of  work  is  not  properly  to  be  called  landscape  gardening. 
A  gardener,  as  commonly  understood,  is  one  who  cultivates 
a  garden.  He  may,  and  of  course  should,  know  a  great  deal 
about  botany  and  horticulture,  but  when  you  come  to  asso- 
ciate the  word  garden  with  landscape  there  is  implied  simply 
that  we  have  a  gardener  who  cares  for  a  garden  having  a 
naturalistic  or  landscape  character;  the  absolutely  essential 
factor  of  creative  design  disappears.  Expensive  mistakes 
have  often  resulted  from  employing  on  landscape  work  a 
person  who  was  simply  a  common  gardener  and  ignorant  of 
the  principles  of  this  sort  of  design.  Art  commissioners 
would  not  think  of  employing  a  man  to  design  a  monumental 
public  library  or  city  hall  simply  because  he  was  a  good  stone- 
mason. 

Landscape  architecture  is  then,  as  Charles  Eliot,  one  of 
Mr.  Olmsted's  gifted  disciples,  has  well  said,  "the  art  of 
arranging  land  for  use  and  the  accompanying  landscape  for 
enjoyment."  Landscape  gardening  is,  it  seems  to  me,  a 
term  conveying  in  itself  confused  ideas,  but  used,  if  at  all 
properly,  simply  to  cover  that  part  of  the  landscape  archi- 
tect's work  which  has  to  do  with  the  development  of  formal 
or  natural  beauty  by  the  simple  process  of  removing  or  setting 
out  and  caring  for  plants.  This  is  quite  secondary  to  the 
matter  of  designing  a  general  scheme  for  the  development 
of  land  for  any  given  purpose. 

Certainly  the  elder  Olmsted's  maintenance  of  his  title 
and  his  great  works  and  those  of  his  disciples  since  under  this 
title,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  the  only  society  of  men  pro- 
fessionally concerned  primarily  in  such  work  containing  most 
of  the  better  trained  practitioners  calls  itself  the  American 
Society  of  Landscape  Architects  is  sufficient  rejoinder  to  the 
statement  that  the  leaders  in  the  art  have  not  decided  what 
to  call  it. 

It  is  no  accidental  matter  but  a  fact  that  both  architec- 
ture and  landscape  architecture  are  bigger  than  gardening 
and  may  in  justice  demand  larger  compensation.  Neither 
does  the  fact  that  it  may  be  fitting  in  the  design  of  the  imme- 
diate surroundings  of  important  buildings  to  utilize  an  ar- 
chitectural or  formal  style  of  landscape  work  rob  the  term 
"landscape  architecture"  of  its  true  significance  as  a  correct 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE  9 

one  covering  very  properly  the  work  of  the  profession  in  all 
its  branches. 

While  this  term  and  its  present  day  significance  are  rela- 
tively quite  modern  and  undoubtedly  the  ancient  tongues 
contain  no  connotation  of  words  used  in  exactly  the  sense 
which  we  have  in  mind  when  we  speak  of  landscape  architec- 
ture, still  our  studies  of  ancient  landscape  design  reveal  most 
clearly  that  the  principles  of  our  art  were  more  or  less  well 
understood  and  followed  in  very  early  times. 


II.— LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE  OF  ANCIENT 

TIMES  AND  OF  THE  ITALIAN  AND 

MEDIAEVAL  PERIODS. 

In  ancient  Egypt  even,  the  arrangement  of  the  grounds 
about  the  royal  palaces  and  their  important  buildings,  while 
they  were  distinctly  temporary  in  their  character  and  have 
long  since  been  destroyed,  are  well  preserved  in  wall  decora- 
tions and  other  drawings,  showing  many  evidences  of  thought- 
fulness  in  design.  These  show  a  distinct  effort  to  conform 
to  the  existing  condition  of  flat  topography,  fertile  soil,  ample 
space,  and  hot,  dry  climate.  Provision  is  made  for  irrigation, 
for  desirable  protecting  walls,  and  there  are  many  evidences 
of  the  fact  that  while  the  economic  motive  may  have  been 
to  a  certain  extent  present,  the  primary  one  was  agreeable- 
•  ness  and  pleasure.  There  is  ample  provision  for  shade  and 
for  flowers,  many  of  which  were  used  in  the  religious  cere- 
monies of  those  times.  There  were  decorative  pavilions, 
painted  walls,  sculptured  ornaments,  all  planned  for  pleasing 
effects  and  with  careful  thought  as  to  scale  and  proportion. 
There  was  no  particular  attempt  at  symmetry  as  a  whole, 
but  in  the  smaller  structures  and  portions  of  the  grounds 
symmetry  is  recognized.  Repetition  is  effectively  used  and 
a  certain  degree  of  unity  is  clearly  noted  in  many  of  the 
drawings. 

What  has  come  down  to  us  in  the  records  of  Mesopotamia 
show  similar  thought  and  study,  and  here  as  well  as  in  Persia 
we  know  not  only  about  the  famous  so-called  hanging  gar- 
dens of  Babylon,  but  of  great  enclosed  hunting  parks  arranged 
with  a  more  or  less  orderly  system  of  avenues  and  paths 
through  them. 

Homer's  famous  description  of  the  grounds  of  the  Palace 
of  Alcinous  show  how  beautiful  these  must  have  been  and 
how  carefully  the  Greeks  studied  and  thought  out  all  such 
problems.  No  people  before  or  since  were  ever  more  thought- 
ful of  matters  of  design  in  the  arrangement  of  their  grounds 
^  and  the  placing  of  their  statuary  and  buildings  to  fit  the 

slightest  bit  of  unusualness  of  topography.  All  this  is  very 
different  from  gardening,  and  here  as  in  Egypt  we  note  the 
application  of  true  principles  of  design. 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


11 


The  Roman  conquerors  took  these  thoughtful  designers  of 
the  best  landscape  art  of  the  Greeks,  together  with  their  other 
artists,  to  Rome,  and  as  a  result  Roman  estates  and  villas 
reflect  this  fine  Greek  influence.  The  greater  wealth  avail- 
able and  the  changed  physical  conditions  brought  forth  from 
the  fertile  brains  of  these  designers  new  forms  of  landscape 
art  evidenced  by  the  ruins  of  the  great  Roman  and  Pompeiian 
estates  and  gardens  that  have  come  down  to  us.  Here  are 
shown  not  only  the  ideas  of  Egypt  and  Greece  modified  to 


PLAN  OF  VILLA  LANTI,  ITALY 

meet  new  conditions,  but  careful  consideration  of  the  ques- 
tions of  distant  view  and  vistas.  It  is  clear  that  these  men 
planned  to  have  informality  at  a  distance  from  their  mansions 
and  palaces  with  a  more  evident  approach  to  formality  as 
one  nears  the  very  formal  designed  palaces  and  terraces. 
There  was  a  thorough  appreciation  of  the  need  of  conformity 
to  the  same  architectural  style  throughout — in  a  word,  unity. 
This  is  again  correct  design  and  what  we  are  seeking  for 
today. 


12 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


We  find  also  among  the  Romans  some  of  the  best  and  very 
earliest  carefully  designed  city  squares  and  public  parks. 
These  in  some  cases  were  first  designed  for  the  private  grounds 
of  the  emperor  and  others,  but  later  given  to  the  people  partly 
to  gain  popularity.  In  the  preparation  for  them  houses  were 
removed  and  the  resultant  space  treated  as  open  public 
grounds  laid  out  with  rare  skill  and  dedicated  later  to  the  use 
of  the  people.  Fitness,  definiteness  of  purpose,  a  careful  con- 


VIEW  IN  VILLA  LANTI,  ITALY 

sideration  of  the  question  of  scale  as  well  as  beauty  and  art 
and  unity  were  all  studied,  and  as  a  result  we  can  today  to 
our  very  great  advantage  study  these  designs  in  connection 
with  our  own  efforts  at  planning  for  public  parks  and  squares. 
The  habit  of  setting  aside  such  areas  for  the  recreation  of 
the  people  grew  apace,  and  the  question  of  their  distribution 
throughout  the  city  was  studied  with  care,  and  as  a  result 
Rome  was  very  well  supplied  and  the  parks  were  particularly 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


13 


well  distributed.  Under  the  empire  the  park  areas  of  Rome 
were  one-eighth  of  the  total  area  of  the  city.  We  today  are 
struggling  with  this  part  of  the  problem  in  our  own  city 
planning. 

Then  came  the  setback  of  the  so-called  dark  ages,  but  the 
flame  thus  lighted  was  never  completely  extinguished  and 


PLAN  OF  VILLA  D  ESTE  IN  ITALY 

finally  burst  forth  again  in  the  renaissance  more  gloriously 
than  ever.  Even  in  the  mediaeval  times  we  find  evidence 
of  an  effort  at  design  in  gardens  and  grounds.  There  was 
indeed  more  or  less  similarity  to  the  work  of  the  Greeks  in 
this  respect. 

Mediaeval  designers  were,  however,  influenced  by  limited 
financial  and  other  resources  and  by  lack  of  labor  and  space. 


14  LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 

There  is  a  marked  absence  of  symmetry  in  their  designs  as  a 
whole.  It  appears,  if  at  all,  only  in  minor  details.  They 
show  none  of  that  recognition  of  axis  or  of  balance  about  an 
axis,  such  a  notable  feature  of  Roman  and  Italian  designs. 
They  met  their  own  peculiar  conditions  well,  however,  and 
fitness  may  be  said  to  have  been  their  controlling  motive. 

These  were  warlike  times  and  security  was  looked  for 
first,  with  pleasure  and  beauty  as  later  considerations.     The 


VIEW  IN  THE  VILLA  D'ESTE,  ITALY 

gardens  and  grounds  of  the  old  monasteries  and  feudal  castles 
were  essentially  places  of  leisure  and  contemplation,  and  the 
high  embattled  walls  lent  an  element  of  austerity  to  such 
grounds.  All  these  conditions  made  simplicity,  fitness  and 
a  complete  utilization  of  every  part  important.  Castles  were 
built  on  hill  tops  for  their  better  defense,  and  areas  were  there- 
fore limited  and  very  irregular  in  outline,  but  this  irregular 
space  was  completely  utilized.  Everpthing  was  compact, 
neat  and  orderly.  These  were  noticeable  features  of  English 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE  15 

design,  as  we  shall  see,  but  the  conditions  of  mediaeval  times 
did  not  lend  themselves  to  a  high  development  of  landscape 
design. 

With  the  cessation  of  these  harsh  warlike  conditions  and 
the  dawn  of  the  Renaissance,  landscape  design  entered  upon 
a  new  and  glorious  era,  for  now,  especially  in  Italy,  great 
protective  fortress  walls  were  useless,  and  we  begin  to  find 
country  places  designed  solely  for  enjoyment  and  the  enter- 
tainment of  guests,  not  as  retreats  for  protection  from  war- 
like neighbors.  Then  was  developed  that  perfect  thing  in 
landscape 'design,  the  Italian  villa. 

The  greatest  artists,  such  as  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Raphael 
and  many  others,  made  plans  for  them,  and  as  we  study  their 
work  in  this  regard  we  see  that  the  best  principles  of  land- 
scape design  were  instinctively  used.  An  Italian  villa  in- 
cluded the  entire  creation  of  roofed  and  unroofed  buildings, 
terraces,  fountains,  paths,  walls,  seats  and  planting.  Every- 
thing was  most  carefully  provided  for  with  one  well  rounded 
purpose  in  view. 

The  site  was  selected  in  an  agreeable  country,  giving  ac- 
cess to  good  breezes  and  rare  views;  accessibility  and  con- 
structive considerations  were  remembered.  It  was  a  hilly 
country  and  rather  high  up,  but  not  at  the  top  of  these  hills 
were  placed  the  villas.  There  was  always  the  closest  ad- 
justment to  topography,  but  this  adjustment  differed  from 
that  of  mediaeval  times.  These  sloping  situations  led  nat- 
urally to  the  development  of  the  terrace,  and  while  the  Re- 
naissance designers  may  have  modified  the  topography  more, 
they  did  not  contradict  it,  as  was  done  in  the  earlier  Roman 
times.  Definiteness  was  retained,  but  a  larger  unity  was 
introduced  dependent  more  or  less  upon  symmetry.  Sym- 
metry was  almost  lacking  in  mediaeval  times,  but  in  the 
later  Renaissance  was  carried  to  extremes.  Repetition  was 
most  effectively  employed.  Shade  and  an  abundant  water 
supply  were  always  provided.  Social  conditions  were  ever 
in  mind,  in  fact,  the  purpose  of  the  Italian  villa  was  largely 
social.  These  were  not  hunting  lodges  or  ascetic  retreats,  but 
places  for  the  social  enjoyment  of  wealthy  princes  and  prel- 
ates and  their  many  friends.  Here  we  may  not  mention 
the  many  details  thought  of,  but  the  Villas  Lanti  and  d'Este, 
to  mention  only  two  of  the  more  famous,  show  how  perfectly 
all  was  considered. 


III.— ENGLISH,  FRENCH  AND  AMERICAN  DESIGN. 

As  we  go  forward  with  the  years  we  may  follow  the  devel- 
opment in  the  landscape  design  of  France  and  England,  both 
countries  feeling  to  a  more  or  less  degree  the  influence  of  the 
Italian  renaissance,  France  even  more  than  England.  In  the 
latter  country  more  evidence  of  mediaeval  influence  and 


THE  GROUNDS  AND  PALACE  OF  VERSAILLES 


motives  are  to  be  noted.  In  the  Italian  villa  and  its  grounds 
we  have  a  single  and  very  highly  developed  unit  of  rather 
limited  size  larger  than  the  mediaeval  unit  to  be  sure,  but 
still  domestic  in  its  scale.  In  France,  while  this  Italian  in- 
fluence is  noted  at  first;  it  soon  spread  to  a  much  more  vast 
conception.  The  motives  of  the  great  French  landscape  de- 
signers were  the  wealth  and  power  of  their  nobility  and  their 
desire  to  express  these  two  things  in  the  surroundings  of  their 
palaces  and  chateaux  by  the  extent  of  their  finished  grounds. 
They  deviated  from  the  Mediaeval  and  Italian  designs  by 
adding  unit  after  unit. 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


17 


The  topography  being  quite  generally  nearly  level,  all 
things  were  adapted  to  this.  Terraces  became  broader, 
greater  areas  of  water  were  employed  and  the  development 
of  the  chateau  appeared.  Here  we  have  the  mediaeval  idea 
of  the  moat  seized  upon  formalized  and  elaborated  to  a  great 
extent  as  at  Fontainbleau  and  Chantilly.  The  highly  or- 
ganized axial  arrangement  of  the  Italian  school  was  retained 
in  the  French  designs  but  the  scale  of  everything  was  im- 
mensely enhanced.  It  became  no  longer  domestic  or  human 


GROUNDS  OF  HAMPTON  COURT  IN  ENGLAND 


but  superhuman,  especially  in  the  time  of  Louis  XIV,  the 
self-styled  Grand  Monarch  who  firmly  believed  he  was  some- 
thing more  than  human. 

He  had  LeNotre  and  Mansard  design  Versailles  and 
Chantilly  with  these  motives  in  mind.  In  these  estates 
there  was  a  greatness  and  a  strong  and  simple  relation  of 
parts  one  to  another.  The  scale  is  always  colossal  and  the 
emphasis  is  rightly  enough  under  the  circumstances  placed 
not  upon  convenience  but  almost  wholly  upon  appearance. 
The  purpose  was  to  express  magnificence  and  was  for  effect 
wholly,  and  the  results,  while  grand  and  impressive,  are  not 
as  exquisitely  interesting  as  in  some  of  the  Italian  work. 


18 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


Relatively  little  of  this  grand  but  superhuman  style  spread 
elsewhere,  although  it  is  somewhat  in  evidence  at  Hampton 
Court  in  England  and  Schoenbrunn  near  Vienna,  and  Wil- 
helmshohe  are  respectively  Austrian  and  German  examples 
of  this  influence.  This  influence  of  LeNotre's  style  is  evident 
not  only  in  the  later  work  of  Haussman  and  Alphand  and 
Andre  at  Paris,  but  to  a  certain  degree  of  L/ Enfant  in  his 
plans  for  the  city  of  Washington. 


PLAN  AND  SECTION  MONTACUTE  HOUSE,  ENGLAND 

English  landscape  design  was  as  a  rule  more  human,  more 
influenced  by  mediaeval  motives,  and  there  was  less  emphasis 
placed  upon  the  strictest  axial  and  formal  motives,  and  dis- 
tinctly less  symmetry  than  in  either  the  French  or  Italian 
work.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  unity  withal  and  a  very  dis- 
tinctive difference  is  shown  as  regards  the  planting.  In  the 
French  formal  work  the  gravel  paths  are  the  basis  of  the 
design  and  the  parterres,  fountain  basins,  pools  and  other 
details  are  laid  out  or  set  out,  as  it  were,  in  the  midst  of  the 
gravel  walks  which  are  always  very  much  in  evidence.  In 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


19 


the  best  English  work  the  effects  secured  were  quite  the 
opposite.  There  is  always  the  background  of  turf  and  foliage 
masses  upon  which  the  paths  are  laid  out  as  a  much  more  in- 
cidental feature. 

With  this  very  brief  and  altogether  inadequate  resume  of 
the  more  salient  principles  of  earlier  landscape  design  before 
us,  let  us  now  turn  for  a  few  moments  to  the  result  of  all  this 
as  expressed  in  the  landscape  architecture  of  the  present  day, 


GROUNDS  OF  MONTACUTE  HOUSE  IN  ENGLAND 
Note  the  predominance  of  greensward  and  foliage 

especially  in  America.  Our  problems  here  are  many  and 
varied  and  far  removed  in  the  character  of  the  surroundings, 
climate  and  other  conditions  from  almost  all  of  those  we  have 
mentioned.  The  trained  landscape  architect  in  America 
uses  his  study  of  these  earlier  problems  if  he  has  the  right 
spirit  as  a  guide  to  correct  principles  solely.  These  earlier 
European  landscape  designers  did  this  in  their  own  case  and 
were  constantly  and  indefatigably  searching  for  right  prin- 
ciples of  design  applicable  to  the  particular  problem  in  hand. 
The  best  of  them  never  slavishly  copied  others  and  we  should 


20 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


21 


not.  We  should  use  these  right  principles  to  secure  distinct- 
ive American  types  of  work.  Let  us  now  briefly  consider 
some  of  the  many  classes  or  types  of  problems  in  landscape 
design  met  with  in  the  practice  of  this  profession  in  America 
today,  and  note  how  we  are  helped  in  their  solution  by  this 
study  of  the  past. 


PLAN  OF  BRICK  WALL  HOUSE  AND  GROUNDS,  ENGLAND 

Note  the  mediaeval  influences,  the  fittings  of  existing  conditions,  and  the 
more  or  less  disregard  of  exact  symmetry. 

In  the  first  place  what  may  be  termed  domestic  landscape 
architecture,  the  designing  of  suburban  and  country  estates 
and  grounds.  How  varied  these  are,  located  on  the  rugged 
coasts  of  Maine,  the  tropic  sands  of  Florida,  amid  the  moun- 
tains and  on  the  level  prairies  and  amidst  the  semi-tropic 
conditions  of  the  Pacific  Slope.  How  make  rules  for  such 
varieties  of  conditions?  Manifestly  no  rule,  of  thumb  will 


22  LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 

answer.  Right  basic  principles  are  of  the  utmost  importance, 
however,  and  these  are  suggested  by  our  earlier  studies. 
From  Egypt,  Greece  and  Rome,  from  Italy,  France  and 
England  do  we  draw  our  inspiration  but  none  of  their  works 
do  we  copy,  only  the  principles  there  determined. 

In  these  domestic  problems  there  are  always  two  main 
groups  of  factors  of  importance;  first,  the  local  ones,  that  is 
to  say,  the  conditions  of  topography,  existing  vegetation, 
climate,  soil,  proximity  and  direction  of  outside  factors  af- 
fecting the  accessibility  of  the  site,  and  second,  the  personal 
factor.  WhtfTs  the  home  for?  How  many  are  to  live  in  it? 


A  NEW  ENGLAND  GARDEN 

Is  it  to  be  an  all-the-year-round  one,  or  to  be  used  only  in 
the  summer  or  winter?  What  funds  are  available  for  the 
adjustment  of  the  land  and  improvement  of  the  landscape? 
All  these  and  many  other  things  are  to  be  ascertained  as  a 
basis  from  which  to  proceed.  A  careful  consideration  of 
these  two  points,  the  local  and  the  personal,  will  prevent  any 
sameness  of  treatment  even  in  similar  localities. 

As  we  particularly  noted  in  the  case  of  the  design  of  the 
Italian  villa  and  grounds,  fitness,  accessibility  as  to  supplies 
of  material,  water  and  so  on,  are  considered.  Provision  is 
made  for  means  of  approach  both  for  guests  and  service. 
Views  or  outlook  from  the  site  and  the  aspect  of  the  finished 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


23 


scheme  from  without  are  all  studied,  and  the  proportioning 
of  the  three  vital  elements  of  the  design,  the  entrance,  the 
service  and  the  living  or  pleasure  portions  of  the  grounds  are 
carefully  determined,  usually  the  greater  area  being  devoted 
to  the  latter.  Local  topographical  and  climatic  conditions 
affect  all  these  points  as  do  also  the  client's  personal  desires. 
From  the  work  of  these  earlier  designers  we  get  inspiration 
helping  us  to  determine  the  general  character  of  the  special 
treatment.  Shall  it  be  formal  or  informal  and  here  is  where 
there  should  be  the  heartiest  co-operation  between  the  client, 
the  architect  of  the  buildings  and  the  landscape  architect, 


A  NEW  ENGLAND  GARDEN 

for  manifestly  the  type  of  house  selected  should  suit  the  site 
as  well  as  fit  it,  and  the  best  design  is  that  which  most  com-s 
prehensively  meets  all  these  conditions.  While  some  sites 
much  more  emphatically  demand  rigid  formality  than  others, 
almost  every  house  no  matter  how  informal  its  general  char- 
acter, is  composed  of  rigid  straight  lines  and  definite  angles. 
There  is  therefore  almost  always  a  Tightness  in  some  formality 
immediately  about  such  a  structure.  This  formality  may 
not  go  so  far  as  to  involve  exact  symmetry  or  balance  and  the 
gradual  cession  of  any  sort  of  formality,  the  merging  of  this 
sort  of  design  into  the  free  and  informal  natural  surroundings 
is  of  the  utmost  importance  in  securing  that  unity  and  har- 
mony without  which  no  design  is  successful. 


IV.— PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS. 

Another  great  class  of  problems  are  those  coming  under 
the  general  head  of  public  reservations  including  greater 
and  lesser  parks,  city  squares,  playgrounds  and  the  like, 
the  mere  mention  of  which  indicates  the  variety  of  condi- 
tions to  be  met.  Here  as  in  the  domestic  problem,  we  have 
again  two  main  factors,  namely:  the  local  and  the  personal. 
In  these  problems,  however,  as  we  are  now  dealing  with  per- 
sons in  the  mass,  the  latter  element  becomes  more  stable  and 
we  strive  to  determine  the  wants  of  the  average  personality 
rather  than  those  of  the  special  or  distinctive  one.  The 
Romans,  as  we  earlier  noted,  showed  us  many  vital  principles 
in  such  designs  and  not  the  least  in  their  study  for  the  dis- 
tribution of  these  areas  throughout  the  city. 

Definiteness  of  purpose  is  always  to  be  maintained;  that 
of  a  great  country  park  for  a  large  city  being  to  afford  perfect 
relief  and  rest  to  the  tired  citizen  by  offering  to  him  and  pre- 
serving for  him  the  contrast  of  broad  restful  rural  scenery 
unmarred  by  any  of  the  sights  and  sounds  of  city  life.  This 
involves  many  considerations  as  to  the  choice  of  the  tract  of 
land,  its  bounds,  its  present  scenic  effect,  its  accessibility, 
and  the  design  of  roads  and  paths  through  it  so  that  the  public 
may  enjoy  but  not  destroy  its  beauties.  Notable  examples 
of  the  very  best  of  this  sort  of  design  in  this  country  are 
Central  Park  in  New  York,  Prospect  Park  in  Brooklyn,  and 
Franklin  Park  in  Boston,  all  the  work  of  the  elder  Olmsted 
and  subjects  of  the  most  careful  study  by  all  his  followers. 
Space  allows  mention  only  of  such  important  problems  com- 
ing under  this  general  head  as  public  gardens,  city  squares 
and  playgrounds,  all  requiring  distinctive  treatment. 

The  distribution  of  city  parks,  squares  and  playgrounds 
brings  with  it  the  problem  of  connecting  parkways  involving 
much  careful  thought  as  to  location  and  details  of  grades  and 
so  on.  Perhaps  the  banks  of  a  hitherto  neglected  sluggish 
stream  until  now  an  unsightly  dumping  ground,  can  be  trans- 
formed by  careful  design  into  beautiful  parkways.  Never 
has  this  been  better  done  than  in  the  case  of  the  "Riverway," 
a  part  of  Boston's  parkway  system  leading  from  the  city 
proper  to  Franklin  Park.  Beautiful  and  natural  as  this  all 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


25 


appears  now,  there  is  hardly  a  line  or  bit  of  vegetation,  except 
the  older  trees,  that  has  not  been  placed  by  the  hand  of  man 
where  we  now  see  it.  Fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago  this  part 
of  the  town  was  one  of  the  ugliest  sights  imaginable.  A 
brackish  stream  struggled  along  through  the  tangled  masses 
of  sedges  and  swamp  land.  Now  it  has  the  beauty  of  the 
most  restful  park,  but  every  particle  of  it  is  the  result  of 
design.  This  is  not  landscape  gardening,  but  landscape  ar-~ 


BOSTON,  MASS.,  RIVERWAY  PARKWAY 

chitecture,  the  work  of  a  "master  artisan  in  matters  pertain- 
ing to  land." 

Real  estate  allotments  and  new  residential  town  sites 
offer  vital  and  interesting  fields  of  endeavor  for  the  landscape 
architect.  Here  we  may  get  much  that  is  helpful  in  the  way 
of  suggestion  from  the  present  day  work  in  these  lines  being 
done  in  England  and  Germany.  But  these  so-called  English 
garden  cities  and  the  German  suburban  townsite  develop- 
ments can  again  be  copied  only  in  the  principles  involved. 


26 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


These  are  fitness,  convenience,  definiteness,  study  and  skill 
in  adapting  needs  to  conditions,  forethought  to  meet  future 
demands  of  traffic,  and  so  on. 

All  this  leads  up  to,  and  in  fact  in  many  respects  is  part 
and  parcel  of  the  great  subject  of  city  planning  in  general,  a 
most  complicated  one,  and  in  the  case  of  great  growing  cities, 
never  ending,  for  it  is  most  certainly  true  that  no  compre- 
hensive plan  can  be  made  at  any  given  time  which  will  solve 


VIEW  OF  THE  RIVERWAY,  BOSTON  PARK  SYSTEM 

for  all  time  the  problems  of  the  great  cities'  growth.  These 
are  constantly  changing  and  must  be  as  constantly  modified. 
Any  right  study  of  this  great  question,  while  it  may  solve 
some  particularly  important  immediate  need,  as  for  example 
that  of  the  right  placing  and  design  of  a  civic  center  and  the 
grouping  of  public  buildings  thereabout  and  may  make  pro- 
vision for  other  peculiar  needs,  must  be  relatively  tentative 
and  must  by  constant  effort  and  study  of  proposed  schemes 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


27 


be  kept  up  to  date.     Certain  right  principles,  however,  can 
be  laid  down;  further  extension,  for  example,  of  the  vicious 
gridiron  system  of  streets  may  be  stopped.     Efficient  control 
of  suburban  growth  may  be  placed  in  intelligent  hands  and 
not  allowed  to  go  on  at  the  merest  whim  of  property  owners.^ 
In  many  of  these  matters  the  trained  landscape  architect  | 
can  be  of  greatest  service  in  an  advisory  capacity.     Modern 


PLAN  OF  A  REAL  ESTATE  ALLOTMENT  AT  SANTA  BARBARA,  CAL. 

city  planners  are  realizing  more  and  more  that  the  first  essen- 
tials are  practicability,  fitness  and  convenience,  and  that  the 
beauty  sought  must  be  as  a  resultant  of  all  these,  not  an  ad- 
junct, not  something  to  be  embroidered  on,  but  an  intrinsic 
part  of  them.  Mr.  Olmsted  has  well  expressed  this  in  a  re- 
cent address.  "The  kind  of  beauty  most  to  be  sought  in 
the  planning  of  cities  is  that  which  results  from  seizing  in- 


28  LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 

'  stinctively  with  a  keen  and  sensitive  appreciation  the  limitless 
opportunities  which  present  themselves  in  the  course  of  the 
most  rigorous  practical  solution  of  any  problem."  Thisistrue 
landscape  architecture  applied  to  city  planning,  and  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  it  must  all  be  supported  by  the  strong, 
high  minded  public  opinion  of  any  community  in  order  to 
result  in  any  marked  degree  to  the  city's  good. 

\  As  an  instance  of  the  feeling  for  the  necessity  of  something 
of  this  sort  and  of  the  growing  sentiment  that  the  utterly 


REAL  ESTATE  ALLOTMENT  AT  BEVERLY,  MASS. 

haphazard  and  thoughtless  methods,  or  lack  of  methods,  of 
the  past,  must  be  abandoned  and  something  better  substi- 
tuted, it  is  to  be  noted  that  in  this  country  alone  fully  seventy 
cities  are  engaged  in  more  or  less  elaborate  studies  with  this 
purpose  in  mind.  In  Europe  great  city  planning  efforts  are 
going  forward;  staid  old  London  is  having  its  very  vitals 
renovated;  Berlin  is  in  the  midst  of  similar  upheavals,  and 
Paris,  which  we  have  been  brought  up  to  believe  was  nearly 
perfect  in  this  respect,  is  getting  ready  to  spend  untold  mil- 
lions for  further  improvements  of  this  sort. 


LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 


29 


It  has  not  been  possible  within  the  necessary  limits  of  such 
a  paper  as  this  to  more  than  enumerate  some  of  the  salient 
features  of  this  profession  and  the  preparation  necessary  for 
the  practice  thereof.  Inadequately  and  briefly  as  this  has 
been  done,  however,  the  aim  has  been  to  make  clear  that  while 
as  its  leaders  contend  this  our  beloved  profession  of  landscape 
architecture  is  most  assuredly  one,  if  not  in  its  comprehen- 


of  tb« 

SLOPE-*  BEACON  HILL 
LOWER  CHARLES  Witt  8RSIN 


1WUEL  FELLS**  8EVEE  EACH 

STEPHEN  CHILD 


BO»TQR  MM*.  -~" 


A  CITY  PLANNING  SCHEME  FOR  BOSTON 

siveness,  the  greatest  of  all  the  fine  arts,  its  sure  foundation 
and  its  never  failing  handmaiden  is  science.  There  has  been 
perhaps  much  too  strong  a  feeling  in  the  past  on  the  part  of 
some  of  the  present-day  leaders  in  this  profession  that  the 
influence  of  science  in  connection  with  this  or  any  other  fine 
art  is  of  necessity  more  or  less  contaminating.  Art  and 
science  have  been  regarded  as  antagonistic.  But  are  they? 
Certainly  the  greatest  painters,  sculptors  and  composers  have 


30  LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTURE 

been  absolute  masters  of  the  technique,  or  in  other  words,  the 
science  of  their  particular  art.  There  was  never  a  truly  fine 
art  developed  without  a  complete  mastery  of  its  technique. 
Many  of  the  old  masters  spent  years  of  patient  study  in  the 
preparation  of  their  colors  alone,  and  we  know  how  success- 
fully. 

Quite  as  certainly  is  it  true  that  this  technique  must  never 
be  allowed  to  master  art.  We  know  how  thoroughly  Michael 
Angelo,  for  example,  in  the  pursuit  of  perfection  in  his  art 
studied  anatomy  and  how  some  of  his  later  work  was  marred 
by  his  evident  desire  to  show  therein  his  complete  knowledge 
of  the  most  minute  details  of  human  anatomical  conditions. 
It  is  by  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  principles  and  facts,  in 
other  words  the  scientific  data  in  each  case,  and  yet  by  an 
equally  complete  subordination  of  all  this  to  the  highest 
aesthetic  purposes  or  aims  that  perfection  in  this  or  any  other 
art  is  attained. 

Therefore  do  we  study  the  past ;  therefore  do  we  require 
the  most  careful  preliminary  investigations  and  the  prepara- 
tion of  accurate  scientifically  prepared  topographical  plans 
before  we  can  do  any  of  our  work  successfully;  for  fitness  and 
practicability  are  always  to  be  considered  first.  It  was  be- 
cause they  never  forgot  these  things  and  were  trained  to  do 
them  that  the  masters  in  our  profession  in  both  Europe  and 
America  had  such  success.  Alphand  and  Andre  in  France, 
and  Major  L'Enfant  in  the  early  days  here  in  his  preparation 
of  that  masterpiece  of  landscape  architecture,  the  plans  for 
the  City  of  Washington,  followed  by  that  greater  master  of 
the  art,  the  elder  Olmsted,  all  had  scientific  training  of  the 
most  rigid  sort  and  never  forgot  its  principles  or  their  appli- 
cation to  the  work  before  them. 

So  must  we  follow  in  their  footsteps,  not  as  copyists  or 
imitators,but  as  thorough  conscientious  students  of  principles. 

How  great  shall  be  the  benefit  to  mankind  when  in  this 
art  which  so  vitally  affects  humanity,  all  such  problems  as 
have  been  referred  to  and  many  others  allied  thereto,  shall  be 
attacked  and  solved  in  the  right  spirit ;  a  true  blending  of  art 
and  science.  Neither  first,  but  both  keenly  and  sensitively 
appreciated  for  their  true  worth,  for  as  Mr.  Olmsted  has  well 
said:  "The  demands  of  beauty  are  in  a  large  measure  iden- 
tical with  efficiency  and  economy,  and  regard  for  beauty 
neither  follows  after  regard  for  the  practical  ends  to  be  ob- 
tained nor  precedes  it,  but  must  inseparably  accompany  it." 


M.  A.  Donohue  &  Co.,  Printers 
Chicago 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below, 
or  on  the  date  to  which  renewed.  Renewals  only: 

Tel.  No.  642-3405 

Renewals  may  be  made  4  days  priod  to  date  due. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


JUN  24  39?6 


T ~ 





J 


LD21A-60m-8,'70 
(N8837slO)476 — A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


LD  21-95m-7,'37 


... 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


